pte

er's

y bed in yesterday's clothes. My eyes felt puffy and gritty from crying. I had never eaten dinner, and my stomach

morning. I braced myself against the sink while I stripped down, and turned the shower on as hot as it could possibly go. I scrubbed and scrubbed at my skin as if I could wash away

ld wear something black and ugly. After all, I was mourning the loss of my life,my hope,my freedo

he mirror. No matter how flattering the clothes, or pretty the jewelry, the young woman staring back at me was still just... me. The epitome of ordinary. Neither tall nor short,f

ecting to see my father, but instead it was his gamma, Noah. "Miss Harper

ou know when you DON'T want to arrive somewhere, it seems like the journey goes in the blink o

n top of hurt seemed to be the order of the day. And I was hungry.I never went down for dinner the night before, and I had been rushed out

, and reportedly trained relentlessly. They had no mercy on their enemies,and had reportedly wiped out entire packs who had betrayed them in one way or another. But l always

that would have fit our pack house inside it four times. It was T shaped and sprawled out into three wings,a beautiful structure built from na

. "Stay strong, Miss Harper. You can do this." That is all he said. He climbed out, and came around to open my door,as if l were someone i

with arms like tree trunks. His ruddy face was framed by two overgrown sideburns and a crazy mop of hair that reminded m

blow her away. She had long,curling blond hair, and beautiful green eyes, and a wide, friendly smile. I was so happy to see at least one smiling face,

ant these people to see me limping, and if I worked really hard,I cou

and strange people with slow caution. The pretty woman danced down the steps,and folded me i

erself as Luna, or her husband as Alpha, but it was obvious enough that they were the le

"My sons are not here at the moment, but you will meet t

. The great pack house was as beautiful on the inside as it was on the outside, tastefully decorated

eaten?" She didn't even wait for me to answer, "I'm starving,lets go get some breakfast." She lead me into a huge dining hall,that easily could have seated a hundred people. She pu

up at me in surprise, then quickly looked back down at her order pad. "Har

ve a four-egg omelette, with Swiss cheese and mushrooms, a b

w could such a tiny woman

antly. "Um...I'll also have a m

rtable transition for you, my dear. But I want you to know that I am here for you and your baby, you are most welcome in this family, and I will do ever

"His father and I, we hope that he will settl

o ask more... I wanted to know more about what this future husband of mine was like. But

ad heard so many nice things about me... well I was sure that was a bunch of baloney

before the tiny woman, and she dug into her eggs with gusto.I was feeling very hungry, and probably could have put a

tly curving staircase that l would have to traverse to get to my guest room on the third floor. Navigating st

iscomfort, I grasped the hand rail,and pulled myself up the stairs behind the spritely woman as fast as I could without falling flat

ited inside. "Make yourself comfortable mny dear. I'll send Annie to you when she's done cleaning up from breakfast. If there is anything you need, she can be of